José L. García Extension Assistant Professor and Coordinator Community Food Systems and Sustainable Agriculture Department of Rural Sociology University of Missouri 1 WSU - Extension conf. 03/7/07 - Garcia

Latino Farm Ownership in the US has doubled in the last decade There were about 90,000 Latino Farmers in the US in 2002 (including Puerto Rico) Puerto Rico, Texas, California, New Mexico, Florida and Colorado have the largest number of Latino farmers 2 WSU - Extension conf. 03/7/07 - Garcia

Missouri’s Latino farm population has increased 38% between 1997 and 2002 MO’s Latino farmers are often engaged in alternative cropping and livestock systems 3 WSU - Extension conf. 03/7/07 - Garcia

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Latino farmers have little experience farming in the U.S. (many have less than 5 years on the farm) USDA program participation is low Latino farmers have not been on the farm long enough to establish long- term relationships with USDA-programs (or perhaps, there was not a concerted effort to reach out Latino farmers) 6 WSU - Extension conf. 03/7/07 - Garcia

There is no “one-size-fits all” answer. We need to consider: Farm operations Level of education Years on the farm (and experience with S.A.) Language preference Cultural aspects 7 WSU - Extension conf. 03/7/07 - Garcia

Sustainable Business Planning Marketing opportunities and strategies Financial services Gender and generation issues Legal and labor issues (farmworkers, family labor) 8 WSU - Extension conf. 03/7/07 - Garcia

University Extension systems have started to connect and serve Latino farmers but there is long ways to go yet. The financial services sector needs to create education programs targeting Latino farmers More collaboration between private organizations and public agencies is needed to provide services to Latino farmers 9 WSU - Extension conf. 03/7/07 - Garcia

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Disconnect between researchers and extension educators Lack of commitment on both sides to integration Apparently, research and outreach do not share a common goal Little applied/participatory research 12 WSU - Extension conf. 03/7/07 - Garcia

Research not only “on” but also “with” Latinos/as Collaboration between researchers and extension educators (for instance establishing joint teams) 13 WSU - Extension conf. 03/7/07 - Garcia Integrating Latino research and Latino outreach needs to be part of a larger research-extension integration effort

Use research findings to develop extension programs and services for the Latino/a and Immigrant farming community Extension has to feed the research agenda on Latinos in agriculture 14 WSU - Extension conf. 03/7/07 - Garcia Extension is (should be) the link between University resources and the Latino community

Extension educators need to be involved in research projects Provide cultural competency training opportunities to educators, professionals in agriculture, and researchers. 15 WSU - Extension conf. 03/7/07 - Garcia Educate the larger community including administrators, leaders and decision-makers. Partnerships at local, regional and state level